CHAPTER III. 



THE PHENOMENA OF LIFE. 



THE natural objects by which we are surrounded, 

 to an extent at which we have just rapidly glanced, 

 are arranged, almost intuitively, under two great 

 classes the Inorganic and the Organic ; the living 

 and the lifeless. The question, therefore, immedi- 

 ately arises, What is life ? What is that, the effects 

 of which appeal so forcibly and constantly to our 

 senses, as to render the distinction just made one of 

 our most familiar ideas the first and almost un- 

 conscious result of our earliest observations ? 



Life cannot be considered abstractedly, but only 

 in the phenomena of organic bodies. Its full in- 

 vestigation is strictly within the province of the 

 physiologist ; and great and absolute results, con- 

 stituting the essential characteristics of animated 

 beings, depend on laws imperfectly understood, or 

 absolutely beyond the research of human industry ; 

 but all that can be effected by diligent observation 

 and just reasoning, is solemnly incumbent on the 

 reflective Christian mind. If " the works of the 

 Lord are great," neglect, indifference, or a slight and 

 passing attention, must be proportionately culpable. 



In the study of organic bodies, the first thing that 

 strikes us is the vital union of their constituent 



